What do you think of un-schooling??

[debilorrah]

Quote:
Hon, you can say crap here.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
I have to agree with this..
it can benefit some children.. with certain special learning needs.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Quote:
AMEN Dar!!

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:

 

[Gonzo]

wow, I don't think so... whats next? Here in Indiana anyone can home school their children. I have a college education, and both of my kids go to public schools.... My sister, who barely has a 6th grade education, has 3 kids that she "home schools" which boils down to no school! I'm not saying that every child that is home schooled is in trouble! I know plenty that are, and are doing wonderful, because their parents are teaching them. My sister on the other hand... no. She has yet to pick up any text books, and do anything that requries her to get her lazy rear off the couch! All of her kids are so far behind its sad! We've tried to report her, and was told that the state does not have any requirements for homeschooling. Which is even more sad. Her kids will never make it in the real world. They stay up all night, and they sleep all day! Some education! Once I tried working with my 8 yr old niece, I was trying to teach her to read.... I told her if we worked on this for a little while, I'd let her swim in the pool after we were done... She called her mom and had her come get her!

 

[saddina]

I'm going to say it depends on the child. If you have a child who is self-motivated and focused, it can allow them to work intensively on thier interests, untill they exhaust a subject. My older son wishes to work in robotics, as part of that plan we get him access to whatever he needs, supplies tools, robotics competition fees. Instead of reading a novel, he'd rather read books on programming and circutry, so long as he's reading something i'm not upset. Our youngest read at 3 (self-taught), multiplies in his head at 5, and reads every book he can. He's most likely going to follow his brother into a life of lab coats, and that's fine. Currently they are in a charter program, but that's for mom's bookkeeping convience, if it washed away tomorrow I could take them to the library, have them pick 10 books, and let them go.

 

[OccamsTazer]

I am all for some degree of homeschooling if that's what works.

I am all for using every day interactions to instruct small kids.

That being said, there is simply no substitute for having a solid academic foundation, and sometimes that isn't fun. Did I love calculus? Heck no. But I *do* have need of my math background sometimes for the research I've worked on. I hated learning it, but I'm thankful I did. That's just a personal example. If my education had been entirely self-directed, I'd know a lot about critters and literature, but next to nothing about math. And I'd be worse off for it.

Learning that is entirely self-directed is going to be unbalanced and incomplete.

ETA: I am not criticizing the homeschoolers who actually make their kids work

 

[yotetrapper]

Need to realize the difference between homeschool and unschooled. I think homeschooling is wonderful, unschooling is insane, at least as described in that article. If God ever blesses me with a child, it will never set foot in a public school.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Quote:
I believe unschooling with intent, as mentioned above could be beneficial, but I have heard of parents using this as an excuse not to get up in the morning, to use children as free labor, etc.

I wouldn't take this article as gospel, though. It stated that " According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, there are no laws regarding homeschooling or unschooling in Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Connecticut or New Jersey."
This is not true for the state of Texas. Some of DH's grandkids are homeschooled, so I am familiar with the laws here. It is true that Texas is one of the most lax in this area, but there are laws regarding homeschooling/unschooling.
In Texas, unschooling is not a free ride like in the article, you just don't have to use an planned curriculum.

But, it makes a better article when it sounds like the kids are let to do their own teaching of themselves, and in the case of the parents in this article, that may very well be what they are doing, but from the parents that I know, and what the laws here state, this is not the normal concept of unschooling.

Jean

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

I have two teenage boys. One is in a private school the other is in public school. Both systems have their shortcomings. School is not what it used to be. I think it's very dangerous to judge the un-schooling as wrong. I don't think a one-size-fits-all is the best approach - to anything. I think some kids could probably benefit from "un-schooling" and if so...they should be left alone to do it their way. A lot depends on the child and the circumstances within the child's family.